EU-China ties to "mark history of this century"

Michel to visit Beijing on Thursday

Editor's Note: The European Council President, Charles Michel, has announced his whirlwind visit to Beijing on Thursday, the 1st of December, the first China visit by an EU leader in four years. As the EU rethinks its economic "dependency" on China, a recent debate in Strasbourg may reflect a more pragmatic turn in the bloc's approach toward China. Enjoy your reading and have a lovely weekend. 

One day in Beijing

Following the European Council's strategic discussion on the EU's relations with China in October, Michel will travel to Beijing on December 1 to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the European Council announced on Thursday.

They will discuss "global challenges as well as subjects of common interest," Michel tweeted.

Against the backdrop of a tense geopolitical and economic environment, the visit is a "timely opportunity" for both the EU and China to engage, according to a statement from the Council.

MEPs debate EU-China ties 

Two days before Michel's announcement, MEPs had a heated debate on the EU's relations with China in Strasbourg with the EU's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, who seemed to distance himself a bit from his own previous hawkishness. In April, Mr. Borrell bluntly told the EU lawmakers that the EU-China Summit was a "dialogue of the deaf."

"Without a doubt, how we relate to China will mark the history of this century and ours in particular," he said at the plenary during a discussion on China.

He dismissed the criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China, arguing that the EU needs to engage with China to address global issues.

The EU and China have different political systems, the way they view democracy and human rights, models of governance, and visions of multilateralism, "but these differences should not and are not stopping us from engaging with each other," he noted. 

New world-class European supercomputer inaugurated in Italy

According to the European Commission, on November 24, the Commission together with the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research and the CINECA consortium inaugurated Europe's latest supercomputer: LEONARDO, located at the Bologna Technopole, in Italy.

LEONARDO is a world-class supercomputing system, developed and assembled in Europe, it is currently placed as the fourth most powerful supercomputer in the world.

European Commission secures almost 3.5 million COVID-19 treatments

On November 23, the Commission's Health Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) signed a joint procurement Framework Contract for the supply of Paxlovid, a SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor oral treatment for patients with COVID-19 at risk of developing severe disease. The contract is signed with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and will run for an initial period of 12 months.

Thirteen EU and EEA Member States and EU candidate countries are participating in the procurement. They will be able to purchase up to 3,427,517 five-day treatment courses of the orally administered Paxlovid.

Gas continues to divide the EU as member states fail to agree on price cap

According to Le Monde, at the Council of European Energy Ministers on Thursday, November 24, ministers decided not to adopt the two emergency legislative proposals on the agenda, which would have been enforced as soon as the 27 member states gave the green light.

The first proposal was supposed to speed up the granting of permits in the renewable energy sector, while the second encouraged European countries to adopt a new gas price index that was more representative of market reality, encouraged them to buy gas collectively, and guaranteed other member states would have access to gas should they run out.

China gains more shares in high-tech fields globally: media

According to Chinadaily, Chinese companies have grabbed more global market shares in 13 out of 28 high-technology products and services, according to research by Japanese news outlet Nikkei, which indicates China is gaining more presence in global supply chains.

The report, published on Nov. 23, said China is gaining more shares in electric vehicles, both upstream and downstream.

Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, the world's top battery supplier, held a 38.6 percent market share globally last year.

Shenzhen-based EV maker BYD rose to become the fourth-largest EV manufacturer last year, and the second-largest EV maker by vehicle sales in the first half of this year, just behind Tesla of the United States.

U.S. announces additional security assistance for Ukraine, Russia says Russian weapons supply adequate

According to Xinhua, the U.S. Department of Defense announced $400 million worth of additional security assistance to Ukraine on 23 March. This is the 26th time since August 2021 that President Joe Biden has used funds at the president's disposal to directly approve aid to Ukraine. Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev said the same day that it was "futile" to expect Russia to run out of potential and that Russian weapons supplies were sufficient.

EU plans to invest more than 43 billion euros to support local supply chains

EU member states agreed to invest more than 43 billion euros in the development of the chip industry, aiming to support the local chip supply chain and reduce the burden on American and Asian manufacturers.

The Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said that the EU envoy unanimously supported the revised version of the European Commission's proposal. EU ministers will meet on Dec. 1 to approve the chip plan, though it still needs to be discussed with the European Parliament next year before it can become law.

What are experts talking about?

"How Chinese-style Modernization Promotes Shared Development Opportunities for Europe and Hungary", published by CASS. The author is Chen Xin, researcher and Deputy Director of the Institute of European Studies, CASS. The author called for the need for Europe to abandon Western centrism and respect China's approach to social development in three dimensions: peace, development and inclusion. Europe should call for a new Enlightenment, be more tolerant not only internally but also to the outside world, deepen its understanding of the world's big changes and avoid making strategic misjudgments.

"To cap or not to cap: the deal Europe needs on energy prices" published by Bruegel. The authors' main argument is that an EU gas price cap would be counterproductive, but the reasons why it is supported widely must be acknowledged and addressed. The authors argue that to resolve differences, the EU should drop the price cap ideas and instead tackle the level playing field concern, more efficiently and transparently. This could take the form of an EU fund to protect consumers from high gas prices, while also incentivizing energy savings and accelerating the roll-out of clean solutions. Or the EU should pool its gas demand in a joint purchasing scheme to give it more bargaining power relative to external supplies.

Please note: the English version of this issue is slightly different from our Chinese one. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official position of the CCCEU.